The Scandinavian Lake and Sea Cryptid Saga
Video still of the Lake Storsjon Monster by Gun Britt Widmark. (Left)
Olaus Magnus, the great Scandinavian naturalists records a number of sightings of sea monsters in his monumental 16th century work on natural history. It is the matter of fact manner that Magnus uses to convey the reports of strange creatures in the seas that is particularly interesting.
They are treated as though they are part and parcel of the natural fauna of the northern Atlantic seas. While dragons and other mythical animals are consigned to their correct place in the annals of legend, Magnus and his Swiss counterpart Conrad Gessner were convinced that sea serpents were a reality despite some incredible tales of the creature sinking ships and snatching crewmen off the decks.
So authoritative were Olaus' works that they were the basis upon which Erik Pontoppidan the 18th century naturalist and Bishop of the Diocese of Bergen was to base his own collection of sea serpents sightings.
At roughly the same time Hans Egede, the great missionary and "Apostle" of Greenland was himself encountering sea monsters that sound incredibly like the saurians of prehistory whose remains we have found in the fossil record. Egede witnessed the monsters off the Greenland coast and was impressed by their reptile-like heads and large front flippers and paddles.
Pontoppidan for his part was adept at collecting sighting reports from along the Norwegian coast and in the fjords that form jagged gouges in the coastline. The diligent clergyman was able to amass many sightings were generally given under oath and a pattern emerged from these reports.
Unlike Egede's creature the Norwegian animals were very similar in shape to the general description of the ubiquitous sea serpent of whom we have many reports from all over the globe. The Bishop of Nordlands was actually privileged to see not one, but two beasts in the waters of a northern fjord as they appeared to be frolicking together.
Margaretha Wallin's painting of the creature she witnessed. (Left)
Anomalous beasts were not confined to Norwegian coastal waters, but were also being sighted in Swedish lakes as well. The most active was Storsjoodjooret said to inhabit Lake Storsjon in Jamtland county. Storsie is very likely two types of unknown animal in view of the sharply conflicting descriptions given by witnesses. Some have described it as short, chubby and possessed of a round head. Others have stated that the creature is the classic horse-head we have heard of from many other lakes.
The beast is seemingly unafraid of humans and is fearless when it comes to exhibiting to wonderstruck residents around the lake. Despite the incursion on its domain by the human race Storsie continues to be active to this day and tourists are advised to bring a camera or binoculars with them when visiting the lake. One who did and was rewarded with a sighting was Gun-Britt Widmark who videotaped the creature cavorting in the lake in 1996. Her sister Margaretha Wallin executed the above painting depicting what she claimed to have seen with the naked eye.
In recent years reports of another active lake monster have been emanating from Lake Gryttjen in Sweden. The local investigator believes the creature to be some sort of sea cow, but were that the case the animal would be seen frequently as it rises to the surface to breathe as all sea cows must. It is distinctly possible that the Gryttjen creature is of the same species as the bulkier of the Storsjon creatures.
Lake Seljord in the Telemark region of Norway. (Left)